(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a far infrared emitting nano glaze, and more particularly, to a glaze that covers over the surface of a ceramic raw body or biscuit to be sintered together with the ceramic material into a glaze that gives far infrared emitting and nano characteristics for the ceramic product to keep the surface of the ceramic product clean and attractive, prevent attachment and propagation of virus and bacteria, and upgrade the function of the substance contained in or passing through the ceramic product by constantly activating the molecular characteristics of the substance. The term “nano” as used herein describes a nanosized material which is less than 100 nanometers.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
Whereas ceramic products generally applied in containers for the edibles, constructional materials, and sanitary ware are essentially having ceramic grains of clay, feldspar, and quartz mixed, ball ground, molded and sintered into ceramic body, the surface of the body will faithfully reflect the roughness of the mold and the size and appearance of the ceramic grains, that is, the greater of the initial grain, the rougher the surface gets.
A glaze (A) is usually coated to the surface of the ceramic product as illustrated in FIG. 1, wherein, key compositions of the raw materials of the glaze (A) are similar to those of the body or the biscuit (B). Upon the completion of the sintering process, the resultant containment of the glass in the glaze becomes higher; in turn, a smooth and bright surface of the body is achieved due to the flow of the vitreous phase. Furthermore, pigment is usually added into the glaze to produce various colors other than the inherited yellowish body for developing attractive appearance.
However, similar to the preparation of the ceramic raw materials, the preparation of the glaze also has to undergo mixing and ball grinding. Therefore, the roughness on the surface of the glaze is vulnerable to the size of the raw material of the glaze, thus to the roughness of the surface of the body. During the sintering process, both of the body and the glaze surface tend to shrink to develop defectives including pit and pinhole where can easily become the bed for the propagation of contaminants and bacteria. Those contaminants and bacteria will continue to accumulate and reproduce to contribute a dirty surface of the ceramic product and constant brushing and acid bath are required for removing those contaminants and bacteria, making maintenance difficult and inconvenient.
To correct the problem, spray of optical catalyst on the surface of the ceramic product presents a solution in the hope that hydroxyl free radicals will be developed under the exposure to the emission of ultra-violet light that are sufficient to destroy the structure of the virus. However, this solution fails to achieve it expected purpose of preventing the diffusion of the virus for reasons that the sterilization offered by the solution will disappear upon the disengagement of the optical catalysis, that the sterilization only prevails when exposed to the UV emission; and that the sterilization is comparatively passive than the antibiotic purpose.
Another solution generally practiced in the market involves the addition of far infrared powder into the ceramic appliance for the ceramic appliance to provide the far infrared emission results by forthwith mixing massive far infrared powders into the ceramic raw materials, thrown and sintered into tableware for the ceramic tableware to effectively emit far infrared wave and fill up the pits on the surface of the ceramic tableware to effectively separate water. However, the far infrared powder is made of metal such as iron, manganese, copper or chrome; therefore, the finish color of the tableware is limited to very few dull and dark colors, making application of versatile colors impossible.